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Reference · Parts and inventory

Aviation condition codes

Condition codes are the shorthand the parts trade uses to say what state a unit is in. They are commercially decisive and frequently misread — most often by being treated as a summary of traceability and airworthiness rather than of physical and maintenance state alone.

Definition

Aviation condition codes are short abbreviations used commercially to describe the maintenance and serviceability status of an aircraft part at the point of sale — for example NE for new, OH for overhauled, SV for serviceable and AR for as-removed.

They are an industry trading convention rather than a regulatory classification. They tell a buyer what state a unit is in and what work has been done to it. They do not, on their own, establish traceability or constitute an airworthiness approval.

The commonly used codes

The set below covers the codes seen most often in the parts trade. Usage is broadly consistent across the market and is commonly aligned with ATA Spec 2000 conventions, but exact definitions and the codes an individual company chooses to use do vary. Always read the seller's own condition definitions on a significant purchase.

  • NE — New. An unused unit in new condition, normally with manufacturer documentation. Some sellers distinguish FN (factory new, direct from the manufacturer) from NE.
  • NS — New Surplus. New and never installed, but held in stock — often for a long time — and no longer supplied directly through the manufacturer's chain. Physically new; the questions are documentation and shelf life.
  • OH — Overhauled. Disassembled, cleaned, inspected, repaired as necessary, reassembled and tested by an appropriately rated facility in accordance with approved data. Overhaul is a defined maintenance process, not a description of appearance.
  • SV — Serviceable. Inspected and found fit for installation, but not restored to overhaul limits. A serviceable unit may have substantially less remaining life than an overhauled one at the same part number.
  • RP — Repaired. A specific defect has been corrected and the unit released, without the full disassembly and restoration implied by overhaul.
  • IR — Inspected / Repaired. Used by some sellers where a unit has been checked and released after limited work. Overlaps with SV and RP depending on the company.
  • AR — As Removed. Taken off an aircraft or engine and offered in exactly that state, untested and uninspected since removal. AR is a starting point for a repair, not a usable unit.
  • BER — Beyond Economic Repair. Assessed and judged not worth repairing. See beyond economic repair.

Why the codes matter

Condition is one of the few attributes that changes almost everything about a unit at once.

  • Price. The same part number can trade across a very wide range purely on condition, because the buyer is really pricing the work still required.
  • Eligibility. Some customers and some contracts will not accept certain conditions in certain positions. An AR unit is not a candidate for immediate installation under any circumstances.
  • What happens next. Condition determines whether a unit goes to a shelf, to a shop, or to a customer — and therefore what it costs to make saleable.
  • Remaining life. Overhauled and serviceable are both installable, but they can imply very different amounts of remaining service before the next shop visit.

Where condition shows up in real work

Condition is not a field that gets set once. It changes as the unit moves, and the change is usually the reason a transaction exists at all.

  • Quoting. A request is answered from stock at a stated condition, and the condition offered has to match what the customer can accept.
  • Receiving. Incoming inspection confirms whether the unit that arrived is actually in the condition the paperwork claims.
  • Repair. A unit enters as-removed and leaves overhauled, serviceable or repaired — with new documentation reflecting the new state.
  • Exchange. Exchange terms are written around condition: a serviceable unit goes out, and the core that comes back is assessed against what was agreed.
Condition, documentation and installation eligibility are three separate questions Three separate panels shown side by side. The first, condition, asks what physical and maintenance state the unit is in. The second, documentation, asks what evidence accompanies it. The third, eligibility, asks whether this unit may be installed on this aircraft by this operator. A note beneath states that a unit must satisfy all three and that a good answer to one does not imply a good answer to the others. THREE INDEPENDENT QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SAME UNIT 1 · Condition What state is it in? NE · NS · OH · SV · RP · AR A commercial description 2 · Documentation What evidence came with it? Release tag · C of C · trace A separate question entirely 3 · Eligibility May it go on this aircraft? Determined by the installer against approved data A unit has to satisfy all three An overhauled unit with a missing trace file is still hard to sell. A fully traced unit that is as-removed still cannot be installed. A strong answer to one question tells you nothing about the other two — which is why condition codes alone never settle a purchase.
Condition codes answer only the first of three questions a buyer is really asking. Treating a condition code as a summary of all three is the most common and most expensive misreading in the parts trade.

Common misunderstandings

A condition code is not a traceability statement

"Serviceable" describes the state of the hardware. It says nothing about where the unit came from or whether its history is documented. A serviceable unit with a trace gap and a serviceable unit with complete records carry the same code and very different values. See aviation traceability.

A condition code is not an airworthiness approval

Approval for return to service is a regulatory act performed by an authorized person and recorded on a maintenance record or release document. A condition code is a commercial shorthand written by a seller. The two are related but they are not the same thing, and one does not substitute for the other.

These are not FAA-defined categories

Terms such as overhaul are defined in regulation as maintenance processes, but the two-letter trading codes themselves are industry convention. No regulator publishes a binding master list, which is exactly why definitions vary between companies and why a seller's own condition definitions matter.

"New" is not one thing

New, factory new and new surplus describe genuinely different propositions. Surplus material is physically unused but may be decades old, may have limited documentation, and — for anything with a shelf life — may have expired without ever being opened. See shelf life and cure date.

Overhauled is not simply "better serviceable"

Overhaul is a defined process with a defined outcome: restoration to specified limits using approved data. Serviceable means fit for installation as inspected. A shop cannot make a unit overhauled by inspecting it more carefully.